OUR OWN HIGH SCHOOL, DUBAI

Topic – Earth and Moon

On Earth, our view of the illuminated part of the Moon changes each night, depending on
where the Moon is in its orbit, or path, around Earth. When we have a full view of the
completely illuminated side of the Moon, that phase is known as a full moon.
But following the night of each full moon, as the Moon orbits around Earth, we start to see less
of the Moon lit by the Sun. Eventually, the Moon reaches a point in its orbit when we don’t see
any of the Moon illuminated. At that point, the far side of the Moon is facing the Sun. This
phase is called a new moon. During the new moon, the side facing Earth is dark.
Why does this happen? The shape of the Moon isn’t changing throughout the month. However,
our view of the Moon does change.
The Moon does not produce its own light. There is only one source of light in our solar system,
and that is the Sun. Without the Sun, our Moon would be completely dark. What you may have
heard referred to as “moonlight” is just sunlight reflecting off the Moon’s surface.
The Sun’s light comes from one direction, and it always illuminates, or lights up, one half of the
Moon – the side of the Moon that is facing the Sun. The other side of the Moon is dark.
The Eight Moon phases:
New moon: The first phase for us to consider is the ‘new moon’. Strangely enough, this is when
the Moon’s illuminated side is not visible from Earth at all, because the Moon is sitting between
the Earth and the Sun. So, a new moon is invisible to us. Occasionally if the alignment of the
Sun, Moon and Earth is just right, then a total eclipse of the Sun by the Moon is possible. A total
solar eclipse can only occur during the new moon phase of the lunar cycle.
Waxing Crescent: The second phase of the Moon is called the ‘waxing crescent’. We see the
waxing crescent phase as a thin crescent opening to the left. During this period the Moon is
getting brighter and more of it is illuminated and visible, going from what we call in our house
the ‘thin Cheshire Cat’ smile from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland to the next phase, the first
quarter.

First Quarter: We see the first quarter phase as a half moon. The ‘first quarter’ initially seems
like a misnomer as half of the moon’s disc is visible from Earth due to the light from the Sun.
This occurs approximately one week after the new moon.

Waxing Gibbous: Waxing means it is getting bigger. The term gibbous comes from the Latin
word Gibbus, meaning humped or hunched, and went on to mean something rounded. This
aptly describes this phase of the Moon, where more than half of its sunlit side can be seen.

Full moon: We can see the Moon completely illuminated during full moons. With the moon
waxing with time, we eventually get to the ‘full moon’ approximately two weeks after the new
moon. This is the Moon at its most striking with its daylight side fully visible from Earth. The
new moon now sits on the opposite side of the Earth from the Sun in a position called
‘opposition’, meaning it is on the other side of the sky. A total eclipse of the moon can only
occur in this phase.

Waning Gibbous: The waning gibbous phase is between a half moon and full moon. Waning
means it is getting smaller. Having reached maximum brightness, the only way from here is a
diminishing moon, which is termed ‘waning’. This comes from the old English word wonian,
which means to lessen or diminish. This phase is called the ‘waning gibbous. It looks like the
waxing gibbous with more than half of the daylight side of the Moon visible, but the illuminated
visible area of the Moon is diminishing as the cycle goes on.

Third Quarter: We see the third quarter moon as a half moon, too. It is the opposite half as
illuminated in the first quarter moon.

Waning Crescent: We see the waning crescent phase as a thin crescent opening to the right.
The final phase is called the ‘waning crescent’ and it occurs when a crescent moon is visible, but
it is waning and growing smaller as the cycle proceeds. Sometimes people also like to talk of the
‘old moon’, a very thin crescent that occurs just before the Moon is invisible again at the start
of the cycle, the new moon.
The Moon displays these eight phases one after the other as it moves through its cycle each
month. It takes 27.3 days for the Moon to orbit Earth. That means the Moon's cycle is 27 days
long.
(27.3 days to complete a revolution, but 29.5 days to change from New Moon to New Moon. It
occurs because as the Moon moves around the Earth, the Earth also moves around our Sun.
Moon must travel a little farther in its path to make up for the added distance and complete
the phase cycle.)

Half of the Moon’s surface is always illuminated by sunlight. However, just how much of that
light we can see from our point of view on Earth varies every day and this is what we refer to as
a Moon phase.

The Phases of the moon – Simulation

https://ccnmtl.github.io/astro-simulations/lunar-phase-simulator/

AFL
1. Angela watched the Moon from her bedroom window for one week. She noticed that, at
first, it was round and fully lit. At the end of the week, the Moon was lit on the left side and
looked like it had been cut in half. How do scientists describe this stage of the moon phase
cycle?

a. waning
b. wasting
c. waxing
d. warming

2. Between which phases is the Moon waxing? Select TWO answers.

d. third quarter moon and new moon

3. About how long does it take the moon to make one complete cycle around the earth?

a. 65 days
b. 8 days
c. 365 days
d. 28 days
4. Simon recorded the shape of the Moon every day for a month. Here is how it appeared on
Day 1, Day 4 and Day 7.

Which of these is most likely to be what he saw on Day 20?

5. Mansi looked at the Moon on a clear, cloudless night. Shown below is what she observed.

She looked at the Moon again after 2 days. What could the Moon have looked like?
POST ASSESSMNET
1. Why can we not see the moon on a new moon night?
a. because the sun's light does not fall on the moon at all.
b. because the sun's light does not fall on the part of the moon visible to us.
c. because the sun blocks the moon and does not allow the moon to be visible to us.
d. because the earth's shadow falls on the moon and makes it dark.

2. The moon takes different shapes as shown in the figure below.

About how many days pass between a new moon and a full moon?

a. 7 days
b. 15 days
C. 30 days
D. 60 days

3. There is a Full Moon on September 14th. On which date will the New Moon occur?
a. September 21st
b. September 28th
c. October 13th
d. October 31st

4. 25th of June was a full moon day. From the calendar of June and July identify the date of the
next full moon?
a. 30th June
b. 1st July
c. 9th July
d. 24th July

5. Four friends were talking about changes in the shape of the moon. This is what they said.
Arvind: “The moon looks different from different parts of a city on the same night.”

Camy: “The shape of the moon changes only from summer to winter.”

Bina: “We can clearly see the change in the shape of the moon every few days.”

Dravid: “We can see the moon changing shape only once every month.”

Who is correct?
a. Arvind
b. Camy
c. Bina
d. Dravid